milelongleblanc

I think I may have caught one of those once. The light-coloured spots had me thinking "laker", which was strange enough. We should have a name for these guys, like Splake or Tiger trout. Rick

Is there anything else on the agenda for those of us that aren't neophytes? For that matter, one fly? What do we do for the rest of the night? Free tye? Rick

I have a spare ticket if anyone wants a freebie. I can't make it. I'll leave the ticket in my cubbie-hole at work. If you don't know where I work, you're not worthy. Rick

Sorry guys, I just realized how far off topic we've gotten. Then again, Dave and I practically own this forum lately. Okay, mostly Dave. Rick

Maybe this "angling pressure" thing is just something I heard an Albertan say, like if you ask an Alaskan, everything from Alaska is the biggest of it's kind. It kind of sounds like you're saying Saskatchewan is all prairie, Dave. Their exact words were "Northern California is just like Oregon." They weren't talking about the vineyards(my first question), and the FF articles I've read on California usually show some greenery, and not just in the river valleys. What about the giant redwoods and sequioas? I don't know if those are rainforests, but there's not too many trees like that in any desert I've seen. Just so I'm not totally conceding, I've always heard that Canadian angler participation is much higher than American(per capita), and Alberta is at the upper end for Canada, so I think it is possible that California has less than your estimated 2.5%. I am surprised that neither of us was able to find any stats or references on the matter. Rick

No offense, Dave, but are you sure about that math? California's population outnumbers ours 10 to 1. Taken as fact. 10% of our population fishes, so if 2.5% of their population fishes, they outnumber us by 25 to 1? I don't think so. 2.5% of 36,756,666 comes up on my calculator as 918,916. They would outnumber us by a factor of about 2.6 to 1. And according to my friends who live in California, the whole desert thing is like how most people think Saskatchewan is all prairie. They say the north part is lush and verdant. I've certainly read more articles in fly fishing mags about California than I have of Alberta. R

Dave, I realize that California is both smaller geographically, and more populous than Alberta. The public education system did not let me down. However, neither of these facts are relevant. Fishing pressure is determined by miles of fishable water divided by number of licenced anglers, isn't it? Rick

Has anyone else ever heard that Alberta has the highest fishing pressure in the world? Or at least Canada? I can't remember where I picked that up, and when I googled it, I found nothing like a list, or article on the subject. Anyway, from what I vaguely recall about Alberta fishing licence numbers, and the relative dryness of this region, I'm fairly sure we lead the nation in pressure. If this were true, would it not make sense to limit access? Rick

If revenue is generated from the sale of fishing licences, why would guide licences make a deficit? As far as reasons, how about to keep them honest? A fly-by-night outfit can keep ripping people off, flying under the radar for quite a while. Most clients choose a guide by throwing a dart, so to speak. Rick

Another great event! In fact, the general agreement is that it was even better than last year. Brian, I know the first thing you'll say is you didn't do it alone, but you don't get near enough credit and praise in my books. Kudos, to all of us, but especially Mr. Bleakley. Hip! Hip!...

Sorry Ian, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but almost every stream in Alberta closes Nov 1. There is a spring creek about half an hour west of Red Deer called Stauffer Creek, open all year, which has some great brown trout, though. Rick

Great report, Frank! I don't think you'll ever get the shot you want of grayling, though. I think they should be the poster fish for C&R, because in the water they're the most beautiful fish that swims, like a living rainbow (the spectrum, not the trout), but with more colours and iridescence. Then, as you take them out of the water, they turn to this drab, muddy-gray fish. Makes me want to put them back. Your only hope is a water shot. One of my favorites has the fish half in, half out, so you can see the difference. Rick

Ian, it's not that I was snubbing you, but the reason I wrote "Brian" is because I was addressing the comment made by Brian Bleakley, our programs director, who's handle on the board is canadagrey. And the "everyone knows" comment was a joke. I guess I should start using emoticons. It's funny you used your dog's hair. I took a good look at my dog, a husky cross, who has some beautiful 6-8" tail fur, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to disfigure him. Not saying you did. Huskies don't need trims, and even a small clump would take a long time to grow back. And what if I, and/or the fish, really liked it? My poor dog would look pretty funny with a bald tail. BTW, happy birthday! Rick

Brian, I don't understand the confusion, they're a family of aquatic annelids in the order Oligochaeta. Everyone knows that...right? All the ones I've seen(in real life), which is perhaps a hundred, looked for all the world like a two to three inch earthworm, in varying shades of red, pink, brown and tan, but most were just that pinkish/tan worm colour. They're typically only seen dead-drifting after being dislodged from flood waters and heavy rains. Seriously, I'll bring my copy of "Aquatic Invertebrates of Alberta" to the club sometime. Drink lots of coffee first, and it might not put you to sleep. Lots of interesting facts; take a wild guess how many mayfly species have been recorded in Alberta. Over 120! I kind of chuckle when all people ever talk about is Green Drakes, PMD's, BWO's, and to a much lesser extent, Trico's and Callibaetis. And that's nothing compared to stoneflies; 430 species in Alberta! There's so many caddisflies they don't even try to classify to species(15 families). Rick

I agree with you on general principle, Ian, no-one really knows what the fish think. But with worms, I think the fish take them for lumbriculids, which are a very widespread family of aquatic worms. I'm convinced that's why the San Juan Worm is so effective. Rick